Don't get me wrong I love PhotoKit Sharpener and have used all three of it's modules practically from the time it first went on sale back in 2002 or 2003? withthe quality of ACR 6 and 7's and Lightroom 3 and now 4's capture and output sharpening thesedays I mostly use the Creative Sharpener 2 module - or at least I was.

But I am now having trouble activating PK Sharpener 2 in Photoshop CS6. The launch window keeps telling me I have exceeded the limited of activations - which is odd because I only have it installed on one computer.

Admittedly I have changed my boot/applications drive from an internal HDD to an internal SSD, but I am not trying to run it on a third or even a second computer.

But I am now having trouble activating PK Sharpener 2 in Photoshop CS6. The launch window keeps telling me I have exceeded the limited of activations - which is odd because I only have it installed on one computer.

Do you have the most recent version PKS 2.0.7? Have you contacted PG Tech Support?

Good for you. but an irrelevant answer. if you never used the Creative Sharpening module in PK Sharpener 2 you shortchanged yourself. The Sharpeners in Lightroom 3 & 4 still dod not do certain things that i use the Creative Sharpener for and of course, no working with layers in Lr either.

Do you have the most recent version PKS 2.0.7? Have you contacted PG Tech Support?

Thank you Jeff,Yes the most recent version (2.0.7) is installed.I have contacted PG Tech Support multiple times about this issue. They have tried to help but to no avail. I need this fixed today. I have work that has to finished.

Ellis helped track down a bug in the PKS2 2.07 installer that mistakenly added components of PhotoKit Color 2 into the install location. That was a mistake by the engineer which has been fixed and re-uploaded to the PG web site. Since out 3 plug-ins share components, each installer double-checks the installed components and updates them were needed. However, the installer was mistakenly thinking users actually had PhotoKit Color 2 and would install it even if the user didn't even have PKC2 (such as Ellis). Of course, it would pop a serial number request and Ellis had no serial number for PKC2 which through him for a loop...

Since no one has chimed in with any alternatives to PhotoKit Sharpener 2 I thought I'd share my two cents. I use Nik Sharpener Pro 3 and couldn't be any more satisfied with the results. It's that rare combination of software that is easy to use but incredibly powerful. I use it for all my sharpening needs whether they be for jpegs on the web, canvas prints, fine art paper prints, etc. I've never used PK Sharpener so I can't compare the two. I can say, without a doubt, that Nik Sharpener Pro 3 is far superior to LR 3's sharpening tools.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if I can answer any questions for you.

I've worked with Nik Sharpener Pro as well. I do not find it "superior" to the capture sharpening stage in Lightroom's Develop module. Different, but not superior. And PKS 2 is still the way to go (in conjunction with The Lr capture sharpener) for multi-stage sharpening.